


To Storm or Fire

by nyctophilia_wonderwall



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-16 00:13:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13624476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyctophilia_wonderwall/pseuds/nyctophilia_wonderwall
Summary: What if Percy hadn’t fallen into Tartarus with Annabeth, but she had gone over the cliff alone? This is Percy’s emotions after Annabeth’s death by falling into Tartarus, because I’m an evil terrible person who likes to write angsty things.





	To Storm or Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! If you’re looking for a happy fluffy fic, begone! I literally cried while writing this. I’m sorry.

Percy didn’t know how long it took for Jason and Nico to drag him away from the chasm. It felt like he’d knelt at the edge for hours, screaming until his voice was hoarse. Now he could barely whisper. He didn’t know how they did it, but somehow they kept him from throwing himself over the edge after her. They’d dragged him back, Jason flew them all up to the Argo II. Now Percy was lying on his bed in his cabin as the boat glided across the sky and the whole thing kept replaying in front of his closed eyes.

The triumph, then Annabeth’s scream, and she was being dragged backwards.

He’d raced forward and grabbed her hand right as she went over the edge. They’d tumbled over and Percy had caught onto a ledge of rock. There was Nico above them, reaching out, just too far away. Percy was more than ready to go into the darkness with Annabeth, _never leave me again_.

Then her hand slipped. She screamed, and he was shouting NO NO NO as she faded away, and then he let go of the ledge but Jason caught him and pulled him up and set him on the ground. They had to hold him back as he screamed her name over the cliff.

When they got back to the ship, Percy pinned Jason against a wall and screamed at him, desperate for someone to blame. “Why couldn’t you come back a second sooner? Why? ANNABETH COULD BE HERE RIGHT NOW BUT YOU WERE TOO LATE!”

“It’s not his fault,” Piper said. But of course she would side with Jason.

So Percy turned to Nico. Fragile, tiny Nico, who could sense death and raise ghosts.

“She’s gone,” Percy said. He wished with all his heart that Nico would correct him. He wanted to hear him say that no, Annabeth was still alive, maybe she could survive, maybe Percy could go in after her and save her. But Nico wouldn’t make eye contact.

Percy had crumpled to the ground and sobbed. The others were all crying too, but they didn’t understand. No one could ever understand. No one else had been to the Underworld and back with Annabeth, no one else had fought as many monsters with her, no one else had held the sky with her, no one else had kissed her and blown up a mountain, no one else had won a war with her or stepped over her when she’d been stabbed or kissed her underwater. No one else had ever been in so much pain. Everything was supposed to be perfect, it was the promise to never leave each other again after Percy had been missing. But now that wasn’t going to happen. He’d never kiss her again. They could never fall asleep in the bottom of the ship together again. They couldn’t go to college together in New Rome. They couldn’t go on any more adventures. All at once, Percy didn’t care about Gaea anymore. He didn’t care if she destroyed the world, because her war had already destroyed _his_  world. He did’t care what happened in the future because his future had tumbled to it’s ultimate end in the darkness.

Percy cursed every god he knew, not caring what it would cost him. He had nothing left to lose anyway. Hera for stealing him away from Annabeth in the first place. Zeus for letting it happen. Athena for sending Annabeth on this awful death quest. Thanatos for taking her. Hades for keeping her. Aphrodite for making him love her so much. Poseidon for extra measure.

It wasn’t fair.

Then Percy had confined himself to his room, where he slammed his fists against the walls until it hurt. He wanted to go to her room, but she wouldn’t be there and it would only hurt worse. So he laid down on his bed and it all happened again.

Eventually, maybe hours later, Percy did get up and go quietly to Annabeth’s room. The ship was dark and quiet, so he tried to stay silent although the pain burned through him and he wanted to scream. The things he wanted the most were gone, of course. Her laptop, dagger, and baseball cap had been in her backpack and they’d all fallen into Tartarus with _her_. There was a notebook on her bed though, and Percy picked it up and began to flip through it. It was filled with everything from reading lists to rough sketches of the people on the Argo. Annabeth wouldn’t let you tell her, but she was the most brilliant artist. She was the most brilliant everything. On the last page was a half-finished sketch of Percy and Annabeth kissing in the lake at Camp Half Blood. Percy carefully tore the page out, then moved the notebook to the floor and climbed into Annabeth’s bed. The whole room smelled like her.

It was too much. It was all too much.

Percy wasn’t sure if he’d ever be okay again, because there was no one else in the world exactly like Annabeth, and Annabeth was all he wanted. Gaea was going to pay for everything. To storm or fire the world would fall indeed, and Percy knew without a doubt that he would be falling with it.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll never write something as awful as Annabeth dying EVER AGAIN. I’ll probably break that promise so I apologize in advance.


End file.
